Dishes
by 2queens1prince
Summary: Tumblr prompt about Henry and Elizabeth doing dishes. FLUFF!


Based on a lilacmermaid Tumblr prompt: Nobody would believe them, but doing the dishes together is one of Elizabeth and Henry's favorite parts of the day.

A/N: I have to be one of the few people in the world that can write 2500 words about doing the dishes! LOL! Enjoy, and as always, I love to hear your feedback!

July 1990

Henry grunted as he pushed open the door to the apartment, a laundry basket balanced on his hip and bottles of laundry detergent and fabric softener in his hand. He dropped it all unceremoniously on the couch and turned to speak to his wife, but the words got caught in his throat. She stood at the sink wearing blue running shorts and a white razorback tank top, her blue sports bra showing through the lightweight tank material. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and her skin was glistening. Henry tried to swallow the lump in his throat. _God, she is so hot._

Elizabeth turned to look at Henry over her shoulder. "God I am so hot!" she said as beads of sweat joined together to form rivers running down her face and neck. "When did the apartment supervisor say the repairman was coming to fix the AC?"

"Tomorrow or Thursday," Henry replied.

Elizabeth groaned. "Are you serious?"

Henry slipped behind her and kissed her neck. "Let me help," he said grabbing the dish towel. They worked side by side, talking about the day's events. Bumping hips occasionally, they flirted with each other. Henry even got a little handsy stepping around her to put the plates and bowls away. "I love doing dishes with you," he said as they finished.

Grinning, Elizabeth said, "You're welcome to join me anytime."

October 1995

Henry walked down the stairs into the kitchen of their newly purchased first home. As he stepped off the bottom step, he focused his attention on his wife, who was standing at the sink doing the dishes. The navy sweatpants were baggy and she had one of his old Marines t-shirts on. Their daughter, Stevie, was just five months only and they were both exhausted from the demands of caring for a newborn and holding down full time jobs.

Henry had just finished his masters and was an adjunct professor at the local college. Elizabeth had five years under her belt with the CIA and had just landed a permanent spot at the Middle East desk.

Watching Elizabeth, he was mesmerized by her beauty. She, on the other hand, wasn't feeling beautiful in the slightest. She was feeling frumpy. Since Stevie was born, none of her clothes fit right even though she was now three pounds below her prepregnancy weight. Her breasts were enormous and she occasionally referred to herself as offering milk on tap. Every night she came home and immediately changed into sweats and a t-shirt, which ended them up where Henry now stood.

"Let me help," he said, pulling a dry towel from the drawer. Together they did the dishes in silence, too tired to even talk. As they finished and were wiping their hands, he took hers and pulled her into a warm embrace. "You are the most gorgeous woman alive. Do you know that?"

"Henry, I'm n-" she started but was cut off.

"You are," Henry insisted. "I don't want you to forget it." He kissed her hard, running his tongue along her lip. "Let's go to bed, babe," he said as pulled her upstairs with him. "We've got a limited amount of time before Stevie wakes up and I plan to show you just how beautiful I think you are."

September 2001

Henry was startled from a sound sleep. He instinctively reached to his left and frowned finding Elizabeth's side of the bed empty. Checking the clock, he rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes and listened. He sighed as heard the soft clattering of dishes in the kitchen. Pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, he headed downstairs.

"Babe," he said softly as he entered the kitchen, "When did you get home?" He watched her carefully. She was standing at the sink, washing the couple bowls leftover from the girls before bed snack. She was still dressed in her work clothes-navy pencil skirt and white button down blouse, her jacket tossed over the back of a kitchen chair.

"Just a bit ago," Elizabeth sighed. "Couldn't sleep."

"Elizabeth, it's 3 AM. Here, let me help," he said stepping to her side.

"There aren't very many," she said, exhaustion hanging on her words.

"It's not about that," he said taking the towel from her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and was silent as he dried the last of the spoons. "Should I ask about work?"

"No," Elizabeth whispered and Henry turned and pulled her into his embrace. He felt the tears soak through his shirt before he heard the sob escape from her lips. "We should've known. We should have been able to stop it."

"Shhh," Henry stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. "Hindsight tells you all of the things you should've seen. It only works because you know what to look for after the fact. If it had made sense beforehand, you would have seen it. No one saw it. The blame does not lie with any one person. Do not take it on yourself."

"That's easy for you to say."

"It is, but that does not change the truth of it." Holding her tight, Henry swayed gently to the rhythm of their heartbeats. It was Jason that broke the silence, his tiny wails letting everyone know he was hungry.

Wiping her tears away with his thumb, Henry looked at Elizabeth lovingly, "Go on upstairs and get ready for bed. I'll bring Jace to you." A few minutes later, Henry entered their bedroom with a very hungry Jason unhappily sucking on Henry's little finger.

Elizabeth drug herself from the bathroom, wearing only a pair of underwear. Leaning over she went to grab her t-shirt off the end of the bed, but then looked at Henry holding Jason. "Screw it," she said, tossing the shirt back on the bed and climbed under the sheet settling comfortably on her side. Henry handed a now screaming Jason to his wife. Their baby immediately quit crying and gave her a big grin before latching on. Elizabeth smiled softly and shifted Jason's small body closer to her own.

Henry shed his t-shirt and shorts and slipped in behind her, pressing his chest to her bare back. "I could get used to this," he said as placed a row of kisses along her shoulder and up her neck., while resting his hand on her hip.

Elizabeth giggled and covered Henry's hand with her own. "I love you," she whispered into the darkness.

March 2005

Elizabeth was standing in front of the sink cutting up vegetables when it had all gone down. "If you go, I can't promise what it will look like when you get back." Henry said, and then he was gone. She remained standing at the sink, watching out the window as he had climbed into the car and driven away. Elizabeth gripped the counter, unsure how long her legs would continue to hold her up.

She listened to the babble of their sweet children one room over and it was then that she fell apart stumbling to the kitchen table, collapsing on the chair. Could she really leave her family again? Stevie was older this time. There would be questions. Could she look her daughter in the eye and lie about the things that she had seen, the power she wielded and what she was doing half a world away? Yes, it was for the good of the country, but was she willing to sacrifice her family-her marriage-for her country, again? They had already been through that period of adjustment several times with Henry's deployments and with her previous assignment in Iraq. It was hard and that was when they were both all in and committed to what their country asked of them. This time was different. Henry was against it and vocally so. How would he handle it when she came back? The emotional distance. The inability to communicate The hyper awareness. The classified information. The nightmares. What if Henry divorced her and took their kids? She felt a small six year old hand on her back. "Mama, are you ok? What's wrong?"

Elizabeth sat up and wiped her eyes on the edge of the tablecloth and pulled Allison into her lap. "I'm fine Noodle. I was just thinking about something that made me super sad. It's okay though. It won't happen, because I'm not going to let it."

Allison ran her small hand over her mother's blond curls and snuggled into her chest. "I know you won't let anything bad happen to us." After a while, Allison slid off of her lap and Elizabeth crossed the room, picked up her phone and dialed.

"Central Intelligence Agency, office of the Director, how can I help you?" the voice rattled off with rote precision.

"Hey, Maggie, it's Bess. Can I talk to Conrad?"

"Sure thing. Let me put you through."

Henry returned several hours later, but they didn't speak to each other. Henry made sure to surround himself with the kids, knowing that Elizabeth would never start anything front of them. He wasn't ready for the answer he was going to get and he wanted to prolong that reality as long as possible. That was why he cringed when she stepped into the doorway of the kitchen as he was doing the dishes. "I'll help," she said, picking up a towel from the counter and reaching for a glass. They worked in silence for a few minutes until Elizabeth finally said, "I called Conrad this afternoon."

"I bet that was an interesting conversation," Henry said, his voice tight, ready to fight or cry, he wasn't sure.

"Yeah." was all Elizabeth said. She knew she made the right decision, but was it was still heartbreaking. She wasn't sure when she could elaborate without sobbing.

"So," Henry exhaled and closed his eyes, willing himself not to break down. "When do you leave?"

"I'm not going to Baghdad. I quit my job today." Elizabeth was surprised that she was able to say it without crying, because that is what she really wanted to do.

Henry's head snapped around. He watched her bite her lower lip, trying to hold all of her emotions at bay. "You did what?"

Not making eye contact, "I quit the CIA." she repeated as a single tear fell down her cheek.

"Babe," Henry's voice cracked as what she said began to sink in. "I never wanted you to quit. I just- I just," Henry's voice trailed off as he stared into the soapy water wondering if this would actually end up being worse than Elizabeth being gone for a year.

Elizabeth picked up a plate and started to wipe it off, glad for the distraction. Staring through the window, into the darkness, she spoke. "I had to quit Henry. If I didn't, there would always be the pull for me to take it one step further, go one step deeper. I can't separate myself from the job and if I were to say no to the Station Chief job now, there would be another job offer in six months and another in a year. At some point, I would be all in, the job consuming me I would have to go, and I would end up sacrificing my family to the job. But, I can't lose you and the kids. So, while quitting is devastating, it is so much less so than the thought of losing you."

They continued to do the dishes. Neither one having words to say to console the other, but just the simple act of standing together doing a job that needed done spoke volumes about their commitment to one another.

February 2018

Jason came flying down the staircase and saw his parents standing side by side in front of the sink doing dishes. He rolled his eyes. This was the problem. Some of his earliest memories of his parents included the two of them doing dishes after dinner. Now that his mom was Secretary of State, they didn't do the dishes every night like they had when he was growing up, but any time she was home, he could count on seeing the two of them in front of the sink after dinner, just like when he was little.

Tonight, they were being silly, teasing each other, bumping hips and his dad planted a kiss on his mom's cheek. "Good grief, do you two ever stop?" he asked incredulously as he hopped up to sit on the end of the island.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, "does it embarrass you?" She grinned and Henry caught her lips and kissed her again. They both giggled.

"Ugh. I came down here to lodge a complaint and this is what I get. Geez!" Jason huffed.

"Okay, fine. What's going on?" Henry asked.

"Piper and her family are tormenting me." Jason complained.

"Seriously? They're tormenting you? About what?" Henry asked in disbelief.

"That I don't know how to do dishes." he mumbled. He watched as his parents looked at each other and started laughing. They didn't even try not to laugh. "Glad I can add some humor to your day," he muttered.

"Sorry, Jace," Elizabeth said, "I'm just surprised that this isn't something you could pick up on the fly. It's not like there's a lot of training that goes into it."

"Well evidently, there's some sort of specific order to doing dishes and I don't know it and they all made fun of me and then when I said that you guys always do the dishes, Piper said I was privileged and pampered and I'm not. Or, well, maybe I am, but I don't think doing dishes has anything to do with it. Anyway, all parents make their kids do the dishes. Why haven't you?"

Henry and Elizabeth looked at each other and shrugged. "It's _our_ thing," he said, emphasizing our.

"It's our time to reconnect, talk about our day," Elizabeth said. Henry wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"There have been a lot of really serious discussions that occurred over these dishes," Henry said and Elizabeth nodded.

"And sometimes even in silence, volumes are spoken." Henry agreed and kissed her cheek. "But just so you aren't further humiliated, you wash the lease dirty, most delicate thing first: glasses, then plates and silverware and then baking dishes and he pots and pans are last because they are the most dirty."

Henry added, "And you rub the dishcloth around on whatever you are washing until it's clean and then you rinse it off." He grinned at Jason.

"Now you're just being obnoxious," Jason poured.

"Ah, but you're pampered and privileged, so you can take a hit," she teased. Jason rolled his eyes and shoved off the island, heading back upstairs. Turning back to Henry, Elizabeth asked, "Shall we finish these?"

"Absolutely. I'd love to." Henry said, leaning in to peck her cheek as he picked up the scouring pad and started on the pots and pans.


End file.
